And most importantly, the fervent and sincere prayers of so many believers in God, both Christians and non-Christians, not only for their families and those in their religions, but for the whole world! The presence of such things and people is what is now holding back many of the predicted disasters, both human and natural, which threaten the whole world in these times, which Biblically seem to herald what Christians know as the “great tribulation” period. In contrast to most standard Christian thought, I strongly believe that the world could actually avert many of these predicted disasters (which I know would please our God very much if this happens), and the existence of these things in the world are both evidence, and hope, that these prophetic predictions are not necessarily fixed, as most believers think, but rather are conditional warnings from a perfectly just and loving God, which may or may not happen, depending on the world’s willingness to turn away from the present, growing, sinful practices and attitudes, and this very much depends on the influence of people, such as we believers, who are not only called to preach the gospel to the world (which is essential to God), but also to be the salt and light of the earth, as Jesus also importantly expects VERY MUCH of us, but which seems to be ignored by many sincere believers today, who may think it is futile to try to change the world, so we should, according to this very common opinion, “give up” on the world, and only evangelize.

The author is right, this corrupt world will not change on its own, but if those who respect, and yearn for, what is good and right (and James writes that “all good and perfect gifts come from above…”), and take responsibility, out of true love for the whole world, which is demanded by Christ, then I undeniably say, by, and before, the living Gog (Who “is love”), that He, Who is now taking away His hand of protection from the world (as He did from His beloved Israel, when ancient Israel did not repent from great sin and apostasy), and it seems, Biblically, is ready to remove His hand altogether, which would allow the predicted disasters to consume much of the world, will, I’m VERY sure, relent, as He did when both Israel and Nineveh (and other nations) unexpectedly took the prophets’ warnings seriously and came to great repentance, and instead, reverse the sure judgments, and He even then blessed these nations! If this conditionality of the predicted end-time disasters is correct (I believe it must be sincerely examined, with hope, as commanded by God, through the Apostle, Paul, in 1st Thessalonians 5:19 to 21), and those who are effectively true shepherds for the world, as ourselves, continue to seek the world’s repentance (along with our own personal repentance, as Jesus pointed to in Matthew 7:1 to 5-PLEASE read, if you will), not only with continual and fervent prayer, but with action, even social and political, if called to by God, then we may very well see God restoring His hand of protection, which would prevent many of these conditional prophesies from happening, and as a result, the world could become a more relatively peaceful place that, instead of being on the verge of destruction, will welcome Jesus, our promised Messiah, when He returns to us on earth.

I realize that most Christians, who resign themselves to the popular idea of the horrible end-time prophesies being on a fixed timeline from God,, may not accept this view. This may not only be out of their firm, but I feel dismal, belief, but also may come from a lack of true love for the world, which Jesus wants of us! In this, we who are willing should not only pray for the sinful world, which I believe could truly take us out of an otherwise very sure “collision course” with God (which is predicted), but for our fellow believers to open their minds and hearts to this possibility I give above, and thus be able to embrace real hope for the world (see Romans 5:5), and truly awaken love in their hearts and be thus able to obey Jesus commands to be the salt and light of the earth! I would like to add a less common interpretation of Matthew 7:13 and 14, which may add support to the above ideas.

In these verses (PLEASE read, if you will), I strongly believe that the “straight gate” and the “narrow way,” “which few find” (I am using the King James Bible) spoken of by Jesus DO NOT refer to eternal life, as normally thought, which I believe cannot be “found”, but is a free gift given by God to all who do not reject it, even unconsciously, in their unsaved hearts all their lives (“the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit”?). (Several verses may be helpful in understanding this less popular idea, which I hope you will carefully read, including Genesis 12:3b, Isaiah 42:16 , 43:11, 49:14 to 16, and 55:8 and 9, Jonah 2:7 to 10, John 1:13, 1:29, 6:44 and, especially, 17:2, Romans 3:10 to 18 (which I believe mostly speaks about unsaved people), Romans 5:6 and 8:33, Colossians 2:13, 2nd Timothy 2:13 and 1st John 2:2b.) Rather, I believe the context of Matthew, chapter 7 seems to point to verses 13 and 14 as speaking about life ON THIS EARTH, as strongly suggested by verses 1 to 5 and 24 to 27 (in which Jesus compares he who lives by His teachings (on this earth) to a man who “built his house on a rock,” which makes it resilient to ANY storm (on earth). Also, the word Jesus uses for “life,” transliterated from the Greek as “zoe,” in verse 14 more correctly refers to physical life (again, on this earth) rather than “eternal life.” ***

In all these things, if the translations and interpretations I try to bring forth are accurate, we must, I believe, truly accept, and embrace, the absoluteness of God’s love being truly infinite, unconditional and one-sided, which all believers and churches pay “lip-service” to, but it seems that very few truly comprehend and believe in their hearts, which sadly limits the truth of God’s unlimited love in the eyes of both believers and non-believers. And this may be the main reason that so many people in the world, who could potentially be believers, pull away from the church, and worst, from God, and from Christ, and so many people within the church (who are already saved “to the uttermost,” as Hebrews 9:25 states) cannot love God as they should if they only knew the truth (see 1st John 4:19), and some fall away, or even leave the church, because of this! These things may also lead to the callousness of, and lack of fervent love for, God and all the world in the churches today, which makes many believers more easily accept the standard ideas concerning the fixed nature of the end-time prophesies, which lead them to basically “give up” on the world, and forget, or put aside, Jesus Christ’s call to be the salt and light of the earth, and put hope in a renewed world (only possible by the infinite power and love of God), which CAN escape the horrors predicted for these end-times!